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Etheredge v. Richland School District One6/26/2000
ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF APPEALS
Appeal From Richland County L. Casey Manning, Circuit Court Judge
Heard January 19, 2000
REVERSED
We granted certiorari to review the opinion of the Court of Appeals in Etheredge v. Richland School District One, 330 S.C. 447, 499 S.E.2d 238 (Ct. App.1998). We reverse.
On January 25, 1994, Ernest Dunlap (Dunlap), was shot and killed by Floyd Brown (Floyd), a student at Eau Claire High School (Eau Claire), while standing in the hallway during a class change. Linda Etheredge (Etheredge), personal representative of the estate of Dunlap filed an action against Richland County School District One (School District) alleging wrongful death. The School District moved for summary judgment averring that the actions were barred by the South Carolina Tort Claims Act. S.C. Code Ann. §§ 15-78-10, et seq. (Supp. 1999).
The evidence submitted to the trial court at the summary judgment hearing consisted primarily of several affidavits. The School District submitted the affidavits of two Eau Claire employees (1) Dorothy Walker, a teacher and (2) Ellen Mosely, the principal at the time of the shooting. Etheredge submitted the affidavit of Harland Brown (Brown), one of the campus monitors employed by the school.
Brown was employed at Eau Claire from September 1993 through February 1994. In his affidavit, he stated that he was informed that his job would entail breaking up fights, preventing the students from having drugs and alcohol on the premises at the high school, and providing security for the school. Brown alleged that he received absolutely no training from the School District or Eau Claire.
Brown asserted that he was not given the proper equipment to perform his job
and his requests to the School District for the appropriate equipment were ignored. He also insisted that he needed the authority to search the persons, bookbags or lockers of the students. Brown described the situation at Eau Claire as very volatile. He expressed his belief that students apprehended for criminal activity were never disciplined in a manner consistent with the severity of their offense. He was present at Eau Claire in his capacity as campus monitor on the day of the shooting.
The trial court granted the School District's motion based on S.C. Code Ann. § 15-78-60 (Supp. 1999).
Etheredge appealed.
On appeal, the Court of Appeals reversed and remanded, holding that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment and finding that there was sufficient evidence to create a jury question whether the School District acted in a grossly negligent manner. We granted the School District's petition for a writ of certiorari.
The School District argues that the Court of Appeals erred in holding that Brown's affidavit created a genuine issue of material fact whether the School District was grossly negligent. We agree.
A governmental entity is not liable for a loss resulting from the "responsibility or duty including but not limited to supervision, protection, control, confinement, or custody of any student . . . except when the responsibility or duty is exercised in a grossly negligent manner." S.C. Code Ann. § 15-78-60(25) (Supp. 1999).
Gross negligence is the intentional conscious failure to do something which it is incumbent upon one to do or the doing of a thing intentionally that one ought not to do. Clyburn v. Sumter County District Seventeen, 317 S.C. 50, 451 S.E.2d 885 (1994); Richardson v. Hambright, 296 S.C. 504, 374 S.E.2d 296 (1988). It is the failure to exercise slight care. Clyburn, supra. Gro
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